The results of local elections held across England and Wales announced on Friday revealed that voters had turned against the conservatives and liberal democrats which form the coalition government.

The elections, held on Thursday, are part of a four-year cycle of municipal elections in city and country districts throughout Britain,and involved 30 million voters electing 5000 local representatives.

Prime minister David Cameron's right-wing Conservative party, the majority party in the coalition government with the left-of-center Liberal Democrats, saw its share of the vote fall from 36.1 percent at the inconclusive general election in May 2010 to 31 percent.

The Liberal Democrats, who were out of government for nearly 67 years from 1945 to 2010 and which often attracted protest votes from voters unhappy with both the larger parties, suffered a slip to 16 percent from the 23 percent they polled at the election.

The main opposition Labor Party saw its vote rise to 38 percent, up from the general election figure of 29 percent.

The results are a second poor year of municipal election results for the Liberal Democrats, who now have the lowest number of municipal representatives in their history.

The rejection at the ballot box was taken seriously by prime minister Cameron.

"These are difficult times and there aren't easy answers. What we have to do is take the difficult decisions to deal with the debt, deficit and broken economy that we've inherited and we will go on making those decisions and we've got to do the right thing for our country," Cameron said in a television interview.

The results are a serious blow for Cameron and his coalition government and will cause problems both in his Conservative Party and in the Liberal Democrats.

However, they do not affect the immediate stability of his government, and they should also be seen as protest votes in the mid-term of a government. Previous governments have suffered bigger setbacks, notably the Labor government of Tony Blair in 2000 and 2004, and gone on to win in the following general elections.

Elections for mayor were held in the northern English industrial city of Liverpool for the first time, with Labour winning.

In referenda in the northern and midlands cities of Manchester, Coventry, Bradford, Wakefield, Newcastle and Nottingham voters voted against moving to an elected mayor system.

Voters in the western city of Bristol voted in favor of a mayoral system.

Voter turnout in England was 32 percent, the lowest figure since 2000.

The result of three sets of elections held in London on Thursday to elect the London mayor and the London Assembly of representatives will be announced late on Friday evening.

The results of municipal elections in Scotland, which uses a Single Transferable Vote (STV) voting system which is more complicated to count than the first-past-the-post system used in England, will be announced on Saturday.

The Scottish elections are of national significance for Britain, as they will reveal the extent to which the national opposition party, Labor, is defending its strong position in Scotland, which is one of its heartland territories.

They will also reveal the extent of support for the Scottish National Party (SNP), which currently forms the devolved government in Scotland and which is planning to hold a referendum in 2014 on independence from Britain.